[One Thousand Characters a Day] Morning Opened with The Analects <4>

Editor's NoteAsia Economy provides daily 1,000-character transcription content for readers of the 'One Day Ten Thousand Steps, One Day One Thousand Characters' newsletter. The transcription content is carefully selected according to daily and monthly themes from Eastern and Western classics, Korean literature, famous columns, and notable speeches. Kim Hoonjong, an SBS radio PD, introduces ＜Morning with the Analects＞, a reinterpretation of the classics, with the chapter ＜Living by the Doctrine of the Mean＞. The text contains 902 characters.

If you walk lightly for about thirty minutes from Hwangnyongsa Temple Site (Hwangryongsa-ji), you will reach Gyochon Village. Gyochon Village is full of sights such as Naemulwang Tomb (Naemul Wangneung), Woljeonggyo Bridge (Woljeonggyo), and Hyanggyo Confucian School (Hyanggyo), but the highlight is undoubtedly the old house of the Choi family, the wealthiest family in Gyeongju. The Choi family house is notable not only for the scale of its wealth but also for its dignified demonstration of a wealthy family's character, having provided funds for the independence movement throughout the Japanese colonial period. As you hasten your steps and explore the old house here and there, you are overwhelmed by the size of the granary where rice was stored and simultaneously captivated by the beauty of the gracefully extended eaves. However, there is something even more enchanting than the architectural elegance: it is the family motto of that house.

Gyeongju Choi Family House Exterior View
[Photo by Gyeongju City]

First, look back on the past, but do not hold any official position above the rank of Jinsa (advanced scholar).

Second, do not increase your wealth beyond ten thousand seok (a traditional Korean volume unit).

Third, treat travelers generously.

Fourth, do not buy rice fields during years of famine.

Fifth, ensure that no one within a hundred ri (traditional Korean distance unit) dies of starvation.

Sixth, when a daughter-in-law marries into the family, have her wear plain cotton clothes for three years.

There is a saying that it is difficult for wealth to last three generations, but the Choi family maintained their fortune firmly for as many as thirteen generations. To put it in perspective, they preserved their family prestige for a hundred years longer than the Medici family, who ruled Florence. The 'Six Precepts of the Choi Family' reveal a strict command to practice noblesse oblige and help the less fortunate neighbors.

During famine years, starving commoners would sell their fields at low prices, so buying those fields was considered equivalent to exploiting the people's lifeblood, and was strictly forbidden. The daughters-in-law who married into the wealthiest family of the time must have been very excited. Even for such daughters-in-law, silk clothing was deliberately prohibited to make them aware of the hardships of the less fortunate neighbors, which is also a beautiful practice. This is a modest yet deeply meaningful family motto that embodies consideration for the weak and self-reflection.

- Kim Hoonjong, ＜Morning with the Analects＞, Hanbit Biz, 16,800 KRW